Millionaire Investors Sue Madoff Clean-Up Team for More Millions

Let's say you invested money with Bernie Madoff. With that monthly account statement appearing to steadily grow fatter over the years, you had no reason to think that your money was fraudulently invested.

But now, along with everyone else, you are aware that the money came out of, and vanished into, thin air. So the next question: are you entitled to get back the money you thought you were legitimately earning - even though it was bunk?

Well, a few millionaires are making that very argument. Yesterday they sued Irving Picard, the man in charge of the securities investor protection fund that will be handling the reimbursements, in federal bankruptcy court downtown.

They're saying Picard isn't calculating the money correctly and claim they are entitled to the full amount on their account statements from Madoff Securities, put out within 90 days of the company's collapse.

It's hard to feel badly for people who want $64 million more dollars than the millions they already have, but we do have more empathy for the six elderly investors who filed a class action last week against Picard. These folks, who sued for nine million, lived off their monthly withdrawals from the 'magic' Madoff fund.